Jeanine Nicholson, San Francisco's first LGBTQ fire chief, announced her retirement July 26 in a statement from the agency.
Nicholson, a lesbian, stated that she is leaving due to "unforeseen medical issues" at the end of August.
"I am grateful for the opportunity to have served the City and County of San Francisco for over 30 years," Nicholson stated. "I am proud of the San Francisco Fire Department and the people that work day and night to protect our city and citizens. It has been a great privilege and honor to serve as your fire chief for the past five years."
Mayor London Breed appointed Nicholson in 2019. Breed, who will now have the opportunity to choose Nicholson's successor, praised her in a statement of her own.
"Chief Nicholson has been an incredible leader for the San Francisco Fire Department and is retiring with a distinguished and decades-long record of public service," the mayor stated. "She and the department she leads have kept San Franciscans safe through the COVID pandemic and the challenges of the last few years while also helping launch groundbreaking and life-saving initiatives, like our nationally recognized Street Response Teams. Chief Nicholson has shown extraordinary leadership and dedication to our great city, and we are indebted to her for her service."
Nicholson was already a 25-year veteran of the department, having started in January 1994, when Breed appointed her to replace Chief Joanne Hayes-White, who retired. She is one of only a handful of out leaders to oversee a major city fire department.
In 2012, seven years before she was selected to lead the SFFD, Nicholson was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. In an interview shortly before she was sworn in as fire chief, she told the B.A.R. that underwent a double mastectomy and 16 rounds of chemotherapy as she fought her way back to being healthy and able to return to work.
"While I wouldn't wish it on anyone, it was an absolute learning and growing experience for me to go through that and come out on the other side," she told the B.A.R. in 2019. "So going through something like that certainly helped prepare me, you know."
More recently, Nicholson defended the department and the city against a lawsuit last year when Assistant Chief Nicol Juratovac alleged discrimination, as the B.A.R. reported at the time.
Nicholson's testimony preceded a verdict in favor of the city.
A San Francisco Fire Department spokesperson stated Nicholson will be available to the media at a later date.
Praise from supervisors
At the July 30 meeting of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Nicholson was thanked for her service.
Gay District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey said, "I just appreciate the communities we share and how much you've meant to me. The community we share the most is how much we love this city."
"Just for being a pioneering figure in the LGBTQ+ community, that means the world to me," he continued, adding he hopes she has a well-deserved retirement.
Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman added Nicholson is "the very, very best" he or his staff has worked with."
"Love you to pieces," he concluded.
Gay District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio said, "Chief, please keep your wonderful laugh. Please keep laughing. It will sustain you through the road you have ahead."
"To fix the things in our city requires hope, and hope is fueled by joy and you embody that," he added. "So keep that wonderful laugh. I will remember it. I will use it in my work."
After the tribute of the supervisors, Nicholson spoke, saying when she found out she'd be a San Francisco firefighter she thought, "Are you kidding me? I have won the lottery."
"I didn't do it alone. There's a ton of people who've helped me in and outside of the department," she added. "I'm super proud of our diversity, equity, and inclusion program. ... I'm proud of what we referred to earlier when we talked about my first time at the budget [committee] when I was advocating for health and wellness positions at the department. Thanks to you we've expanded that and are doing wonderful things."
She said, "I took my first promotional exam when I'd been in the department 13-14 years" and had never expected to become chief, and that the impetus for the exam was "I saw some of the other people that took it."
"I was all in after that," she joked.
Nicholson didn't comment on the medical circumstances of her departure, but concluded her remarks by saying she is "so grateful for all the support that is in this room today. I'm just super, super lucky.
"Just one last thing: what I learned a long time ago is if you don't know what to do just do the next right thing," she continued. "That's what I've tried to do and I'm eternally grateful. Thank you."
Updated, 7/30/24: This article has been updated with comments from CHief Nicholson and members of the Board of Supervisors.
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